Traditionally, nurses and other medical professionals were connected to a single practice or facility. However, the changing landscape of medical treatment has seen more and more people taking jobs as remote and traveling nurses who aren’t necessarily tied to one single center or community.
According to MSNBC, the National Health Services Corps. has seen its numbers explode in recent years. That program has seen the number of government-employed traveling nurses increase from 3,600 professionals in 2008 to 10,000 this year. Besides the fact that more and more rural and remote patients need access to healthcare despite not being able to travel, this trend is also influenced by the changing medical industry that is becoming increasingly dependent on technology.
Even the private sector is experiencing significant increases in the number of nurses with no particular professional home. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, home healthcare nurses made up 33 percent of the nursing industry last year while employment services nurses comprised 24 percent. These figures are expected to increase by 22 percent by 2018, which represents significant leaps for both travel nurses and nurses in general.